Criminal Law Act 1967 document listing 'Arrestable Offences" 1967
Name/Title
Criminal Law Act 1967 document listing "Arrestable Offences" 1967 and "Sussex Police Forces Amalgamation" Memorandum 1967
Entry/Object ID
2365
Description
Beige Manilla folder containing (slightly larger than standard A4) size typewritten document titled "Criminal Law Act 1967 Section 2 Arrestable Offences". This folder also contains a copy of the Memorandum on the Amalgamation of Sussex Police Forces document in it's blue card cover, titled "Sussex Police Forces Amalgamation A Memorandum by the Chief Constable (designate) (item 2365.1).
Use
To detail the then new category of arrestable offences and give an overview of organisation within the new Sussex Constabulary
Context
The 1967 Criminal Law Act updated many aspects of English criminal law and was part of a wider process in the 1960s to modernise policing and the criminal justice system more generally. In particular it abolished the offence categories of "Felonies" and "Misdemeanours", to determine what offences officers could arrest suspects for and created the new category of "Arrestable Offence". This simplified the process which determined whether a person could be arrested without a warrant. Basically if the maximum punishment for the offence was 5 years imprisonment, then it constituted an "Arrestable Offence". These changes relating to powers of arrest, were themselves updated by the 1984 Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which in turn was amended by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.
The 1967 Act also abolished some outdated offences and created some new ones.
This document details the offences that were classed as "arrestable" and was essential guidance for officers and supervisors, given that the changes were far reaching, and that officers were used to dealing with the previous somewhat arcane categories.
